Calm Before the Storm

I’d thought that the Thanksgiving break was going to be about having the downtime to get some projects finished.

Like editing the rest of Third Degree of Separation and getting it off to the printer. The cover is done, after all. It’s not that much work.

Or maybe I’d get a good chunk of A Wedding of Souls edited. Or maybe the revision to Waiting on the Thunder finished.

Or even get my websites updated.

Instead, the downtime I got for Thanksgiving that I’d thought would be for productivity, ended up for down- time for…downtime. So my break is over now and I’m kicking myself for not getting enough done and mean- while, my Personal Obi-Wan is telling me she doesn’t see how I get so much done. There’s always more, always more ideas, always more projects. I don’t think I’d have it any other way.

With the help of my mentor, whom I now refer to as my Personal Yoda, I’ve structured a plan that I’m busily putting into place. This isn’t the Healing Center yet, but it certainly fits in as well as fitting with my plans of a more portable career. I’m am pushing, pushing, pushing right now.

I already accomplish a ton of work on my daily com- mute, using my digital recorder and a transcription pro- gram for my essays/journals. The only problem with the program is that, when I write fiction, I really get into the characters and begin to talk in their accents and pitches instead of a natural voice that my transcription program recognizes.

Hypothetical example:

Our heroine cringed at the sound of her arch-nemesis’ voice and answered in her clipped accent, “Certainly naht! That’s the noit-ee-est thing Ah-ee have heard ahll yeahr.” To which her nemesis raised an eyebrow and said, “Well, da-a-yam, shug! Wher-yah bin?”

Shannon, when she edits the transcriptions, gets a huge kick out of this! The software works just fine at interpreting my normal speaking voice until I “do people.”

The digital recorder is vital to my productivity and my plans right now. One of my upcoming how-to projects will be comprised of several hours of recorded audio files sent to a virtual assistant who’ll verify the dictation three times and edit it for grammar, etc. I’ll drop in some samples, once it’s back, and off it’ll go to the printer’s. It’s fast-paced, but that’s a necessity right now.

Meanwhile, I’m editing my journals as quickly as possible and beginning the workbook that goes with the first three journals. It’s definitely going to be a course, at least 3 courses over the whole of the series, though I’m not sure yet how thick this workbook is going to be. Each course will cover about 6 months’ of essays and “personal archeology” questions based on my own journey to healing. The workbook will reference the corresponding Third Degree diary books.

I have the first three books completed now, with the first copies of Third Degree of Freedom coming off the presses tomorrow and in my home office later this week. The books and workbook will be available separately or packaged as a course. Hopefully the questions I ask that supplement the essays will be thought-provoking enough to help the reader explore some old patterns and break them. It’s funny that the series didn’t start as “self-help” other than as a way to help my own self figure things out. Now it’s something I’m apparently to take forward with me into a coaching career of some type.

Right now, as little blips of issues are showing up in my life, I’m swooping in and exploring them, categorizing them, and putting them away rather quickly. Sorta like everything is falling into place faster. I’m sure this will slow at some point—I know it will to make space for something else—but for now this is coming quickly and I’m flowing with it, writing more journals than usual but understanding that this is what I need to do for right now while that particular stream of energy is there. I’m not even sure of where I am in the stream of journals yet. I know Third Degree Tilt’s essays occurred in the May/June timeframe, with Third Degree Curves hitting around July and August, maybe September. Third Degree of Truth is, I think, where I am now. But I’m not sure. It’ll depend on how the formatting goes and how much I’m actually writing.

But here’s the thing: I know the title of the one that’s next. I know it, just know it. Or maybe I’m already there and just haven’t finished it. It’s a blue book with a huge crystal on it, though I might opt for pink instead just be- cause I’ve been socialized that way. It’s called Love in the Third Degree.

It’s a good thing that my Thanksgiving break had enough downtime for me to get some adequate rest. I’m going to need it.